Compher new AD at East Carolina

Northern Illinois athletic director Jeff Compher is headed to East Carolina, the school confirmed Wednesday morning. He will be introduced in a press conference on campus at 3 p.m. CT.

Compher, 53, is replacing Terry Holland, who retired earlier this year. He will oversee a program that is a member of Conference USA, but will join the Big East (as it's currently known) in football in 2014. He has ties to the state as he spent 2000-04 as Western Carolina's athletic director and worked in various positions at N.C. State for 13 years. He was an assistant athletic director in Raleigh from 1986-92.

During his time in DeKalb, Compher has hired two football coaches as well as a men's and women's basketball coach. He also oversaw the start of construction on the Chessick Practice Center, which is supposed to be completed sometime this fall.